If resilience is the key to New York City's artistic battleground, Isaac Mizrahi's "Peter and the Wolf" is a master class in tenacity mixed with a smidge of nostalgia. This month, the designer celebrates 17 uninterrupted years of narrating the story at the Guggenheim Museum, a feat that continues to draw hordes of little culture vultures and their families into the iconic museum's rotunda. "Oh God, that makes me feel so old," Mizrahi quipped in a phone interview reported by the Gothamist.
Launched in 2007, Mizrahi's brainchild began as a humble narration of Prokofiev's 1936 composition and has since morphed into an annual, choreographed fixture with John Heginbotham adding a dance component in 2013. "The piece has organically taken on this lovely, lovely life here at the Guggenheim each year," Heginbotham mentioned in a statement obtained by Gothamist. The show's consistent sell-out status cements its place in the city's winter cultural landscape, akin to tourist bustle and Radio City's Rockettes.
Aside from the longevity of his theater endeavor, Mizrahi's multifaceted success in fashion and entertainment is undeniable. This polymath got his first design commission while still a student and has since climbed every creative rung, from running an eponymous fashion house to gracing our screens as a "Project Runway All-Stars" judge. Reminiscing with 1stDibs, Mizrahi reflected on his top career moments, including his acclaimed first fashion show where he received a standing ovation: "Darling, you're the king of New York!" exclaimed model Veronica Webb in what Mizrahi counts among the great moments of his life.
Honesty about his personal life is also part of Mizrahi's narrative, one that resonates in the complexities and evolutions of the culture and LGBT community in NYC. "I come from a very religious, very closed community that does not see homosexuals. I had to leave because I couldn't be there and be gay," Mizrahi recounted to 1stDibs. Despite the trepidation of earlier years, he approached visibility with a defiant openness, hosting a party in his Soho studio: "If I’m going to do this, I thought, I should open my doors and share my story," he told 1stDibs.
Back to "Peter and the Wolf," which has turned into a holiday ritual of sorts for Mizrahi himself, the production has attained an almost liturgical significance for him. "You know how you read the Bible — you could read it a trillion times and you’d keep finding these really f--ked up, kind-of-interesting or great things in it," Mizrahi expressed in a colorful statement obtained by Gothamist. For the fans and for Mizrahi, the blend of story, music, and now dance, continues to be a welcome and enduring waypoint in New York City's seasonal rhythm.
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